Minimum services required to run Windows XP

[ultrum]

Hi:

I have Windows XP Professional Service Pack 1. I noticed that on Task Manager
there are many processes running at the background. When I
run msconfig, there are bunch of services selected. I use the
PC mostly to surf the internet, email, some word processing,
and image and video editing, very basic things. So, I probably
do not need most of these services.

My question is what the minimum services are required to run Windows XP,
just the shell, internet explorer, outlook express, Microsoft
Office, media player and dial-up? I do not need burnt-in CD writer
and compressed folder support.

Thanks.

[R. McCarty]

Services have inter-dependencies, so it's not an easy thing to
configure. Also, adding hardware can "trigger" services that
won't appear in a normal session. The following web-page is
a good reference on what they do and recommended settings.
Before you change anything - Be sure to have a system backup.
http://www.blkviper.com/WinXP/service411.htm

Also, after changing a Service state - check Event Viewer
(System) to ensure no Errors have occurred from the change.

On my XP-Pro setup, I have around 21 "Automatic" services.
But, this depends on your hardware, applications and setup.

"ultrum" > wrote in message
om...
> Hi:
>
> I have Windows XP Professional Service Pack 1. I noticed that on Task
Manager
> there are many processes running at the background. When I
> run msconfig, there are bunch of services selected. I use the
> PC mostly to surf the internet, email, some word processing,
> and image and video editing, very basic things. So, I probably
> do not need most of these services.
>
> My question is what the minimum services are required to run Windows XP,
> just the shell, internet explorer, outlook express, Microsoft
> Office, media player and dial-up? I do not need burnt-in CD writer
> and compressed folder support.
>
> Thanks.

[Crusty \(-: Old B@stard :-\)]

Image and video editing are "far" from basic. Writing a letter is basic!

I have never turned off any of the services. I have had little trouble with
my O/S, that which isn't "self induced"!

"ultrum" > wrote in message
om...
> Hi:
>
> I have Windows XP Professional Service Pack 1. I noticed that on Task
Manager
> there are many processes running at the background. When I
> run msconfig, there are bunch of services selected. I use the
> PC mostly to surf the internet, email, some word processing,
> and image and video editing, very basic things. So, I probably
> do not need most of these services.
>
> My question is what the minimum services are required to run Windows XP,
> just the shell, internet explorer, outlook express, Microsoft
> Office, media player and dial-up? I do not need burnt-in CD writer
> and compressed folder support.
>
> Thanks.

[David Gorick]

Try www.blackviper.com for a list of services that can be safely turned off.

[Anando [MS-MVP]]

Hi,

It is best recommended to leave the services alone. Most users complain of
unexpected problems after messing around with the services.

--
Anando
Microsoft-MVP for Windows XP
Know more about the MVP program- http://mvp.support.microsoft.com
Indian MVPs- http://www.microsoft.com/india/mvp/indiamvp.aspx


"ultrum" > wrote in message
om...
> Hi:
>
> I have Windows XP Professional Service Pack 1. I noticed that on Task
Manager
> there are many processes running at the background. When I
> run msconfig, there are bunch of services selected. I use the
> PC mostly to surf the internet, email, some word processing,
> and image and video editing, very basic things. So, I probably
> do not need most of these services.
>
> My question is what the minimum services are required to run Windows XP,
> just the shell, internet explorer, outlook express, Microsoft
> Office, media player and dial-up? I do not need burnt-in CD writer
> and compressed folder support.
>
> Thanks.

[ultrum]

This is exactly what I was looking for. My computer starts
and boots faster now.

"R. McCarty" > wrote in message >...
> http://www.blkviper.com/WinXP/service411.htm

[John B]

Crusty (-: Old B@stard :-), after spending 3 minutes figuring out which end of
the pen to use, wrote:

> Image and video editing are "far" from basic. Writing a letter is basic!
>
> I have never turned off any of the services. I have had little trouble with
> my O/S, that which isn't "self induced"!

Every post from you is a 'brain-fart' that *is* self-induced.

John
--
When the next door neighbor allows his pit bull to roam freely I bring the
grandkids in the house. I have no evidence that the dog will attack the
children. But, based on a pit bull's reputation, I don't trust the dog.
That's not paranoia. That's protecting what's important to you.
(Cooter, in an GRC NG, covering a thread about trusting M$)

[John B]

Anando [MS-MVP], after spending 3 minutes figuring out which end of the pen to
use, wrote:

> Hi,
>
> It is best recommended to leave the services alone. Most users complain of
> unexpected problems after messing around with the services.
>
> --
> Anando

They do? What's your evidence of "most users"? Seems to me, that the posts in
here about 'services' are wanting to know how to get rid of the damn things,
and *especially* the windows messenging. If you're basing your knowledge of
"most users" on cll-ins for tech help, then it seems too that if these
'services' *are* left alone, you shouldn't get many calls at all about it/them,
correct?

John
--
When the next door neighbor allows his pit bull to roam freely I bring the
grandkids in the house. I have no evidence that the dog will attack the
children. But, based on a pit bull's reputation, I don't trust the dog.
That's not paranoia. That's protecting what's important to you.
(Cooter, in an GRC NG, covering a thread about trusting M$)

[sli]

Anando [MS-MVP] wrote:
> Hi,
>
> It is best recommended to leave the services alone. Most users
> complain of unexpected problems after messing around with the
> services.
>
This is hard to believe. Every XP machine I ever saw ran better with
unnecessary services disabled. And there are a lot of unnecessary services.
A good place to figure out what is unnecessary for any particular machine is
http://www.blackviper.com/WinXP/service411.htm

[Roly]

<snip>
>http://www.blackviper.com/WinXP/service411.htm
>
specifically for DV editing try -

http://www.videoguys.com/WinXP.html
http://www.videoguys.com/TweaksWINXPVE.html
http://www.videoguys.com/WinXP2.html

These tips seem to have been tested in 'real world' scenarios.

RoLY

[ultrum]

I have P4 2Ghz CPU, 512MB memory. WinXP runs in horrid performance
as installed. I have done quite a lot of tweaking, but still it is slower than
Win2K which is not tweaked at all, and way slower than Win98 on
the same machine.

[ultrum]

Phew, there is load of info. It will take me some time to
sort things out. But, as they mention, too many tweaks can
make things actually worse.

Roly > wrote in message >...
> <snip>
> >http://www.blackviper.com/WinXP/service411.htm
> >
> specifically for DV editing try -
>
> http://www.videoguys.com/WinXP.html
> http://www.videoguys.com/TweaksWINXPVE.html
> http://www.videoguys.com/WinXP2.html
>
> These tips seem to have been tested in 'real world' scenarios.
>
> RoLY

[Anando [MS-MVP]]

One needs to have a thorough knowledge of the particular services before
messing around with them. By thorough knowledge, i mean that just reading
the particular description of the service is not enough, one also needs to
know the dependencies etc. of the services.

I am sure, an average user would not have that kind of knowledge unless
he/she goes through some good and trustworthy literature about services.

--
Anando
Microsoft-MVP for Windows XP
Know more about the MVP program- http://mvp.support.microsoft.com
Indian MVPs- http://www.microsoft.com/india/mvp/indiamvp.aspx


"sli" > wrote in message
...
> Anando [MS-MVP] wrote:
> > Hi,
> >
> > It is best recommended to leave the services alone. Most users
> > complain of unexpected problems after messing around with the
> > services.
> >
> This is hard to believe. Every XP machine I ever saw ran better with
> unnecessary services disabled. And there are a lot of unnecessary
services.
> A good place to figure out what is unnecessary for any particular machine
is
> http://www.blackviper.com/WinXP/service411.htm
>
>

[Plato]

Anando [MS-MVP] wrote:
>
> One needs to have a thorough knowledge of the particular services before
> messing around with them. By thorough knowledge, i mean that just reading
> the particular description of the service is not enough, one also needs to
> know the dependencies etc. of the services.

Agreed. If you are going to disable services to "speed up boot time"
then disable only one or two services at a time and see how things work.
Folks get into trouble when they read a page like this:

http://www.blackviper.com/WinXP/servicecfg.htm

And disable too large of a set at once.


--
http://www.bootdisk.com/

[ultrum]

WinXP is not meant for average users. And, there is average joe.
I can imagine the headache OEMs are getting. Of course, VPs are
not handling the customer calls.

I was testing some of the tweaks suggested and shutdown got really
bad. Fortunately, I ghosted a reasonable version. I think this is
as much as I will tweak this thing.

I have not tested Longhorn. I would not dare to touch it.

"Anando [MS-MVP]" > wrote in message >...
> One needs to have a thorough knowledge of the particular services before
> messing around with them. By thorough knowledge, i mean that just reading
> the particular description of the service is not enough, one also needs to
> know the dependencies etc. of the services.
>
> I am sure, an average user would not have that kind of knowledge unless
> he/she goes through some good and trustworthy literature about services.
>
> --
> Anando
> Microsoft-MVP for Windows XP
> Know more about the MVP program- http://mvp.support.microsoft.com
> Indian MVPs- http://www.microsoft.com/india/mvp/indiamvp.aspx
>

[Ken Blake]

In , ultrum wrote:

> WinXP is not meant for average users.


Of course it is. It's meant for everyone. And the vast majority
of those avaerage users who have it installed use it without a
problem.

--
Ken Blake
Please reply to the newsgroup

[ultrum]

There are 322,000 threads on general and 160,000 threads on
help_and_support newsgroups. These are very small portion of
discussions took place.
I can predict a few million emails are exchanged regarding the WinXP
problems.
How many people do owe WinXP? A few hundred thousands???

Forget about that there are bunch of people blessed by XP,
I can challange you to find one person that did not have one
problem on WinXP. There would, if he did not turn on his PC.

There is no point in denying the problems. We are trying to
solve the issues here (and the software engineers at Microsoft
are not out fishing or are they?).

"Ken Blake" > wrote in message >...
> In , ultrum wrote:
>
> > WinXP is not meant for average users.
>
>
> Of course it is. It's meant for everyone. And the vast majority
> of those avaerage users who have it installed use it without a
> problem.

[Donald Link]

The Microsoft people are busy playing Bridge and planning how to screw the
consumer for more money.





"ultrum" > wrote in message
om...
> There are 322,000 threads on general and 160,000 threads on
> help_and_support newsgroups. These are very small portion of
> discussions took place.
> I can predict a few million emails are exchanged regarding the WinXP
> problems.
> How many people do owe WinXP? A few hundred thousands???
>
> Forget about that there are bunch of people blessed by XP,
> I can challange you to find one person that did not have one
> problem on WinXP. There would, if he did not turn on his PC.
>
> There is no point in denying the problems. We are trying to
> solve the issues here (and the software engineers at Microsoft
> are not out fishing or are they?).
>
> "Ken Blake" > wrote in message
>...
> > In , ultrum wrote:
> >
> > > WinXP is not meant for average users.
> >
> >
> > Of course it is. It's meant for everyone. And the vast majority
> > of those avaerage users who have it installed use it without a
> > problem.

[Crusty \(-: Old B@stard :-\)]

"ultrum" > wrote in message
om...
> How many people do owe WinXP? A few hundred thousands???

You've got to be kidding, right!!!

A million copies were sold within the first couple of months. It has been
out for almost 2 years now!

..

[Ken Blake]

"ultrum" > wrote in message
om...

> There are 322,000 threads on general and 160,000 threads on
> help_and_support newsgroups. These are very small portion of
> discussions took place.


There are always people who have questions on how to do
something. And there are always some problems, especially when a
product is new and widely used. I'm not denying that some
problems exist--no operating system is perfect--but my experience
is that there are far fewer problems than with any other version
of Windows. How many threads were there on the Windows 98
newsgroups at the same point in its lifecycle?

People come to these newsgroups when they have questions or
problems. That's their function. The number of questions you see
here are not representative of the world at large. Someone once
said that if you hang around a transmission shop, you'll think
that all cars have transmission problems.

Also note that a great number of questions asked here are
answered simply by telling someone who just didn't know how to do
something what to do. For example, I just answered a question
from someone who thought it was a bug that his task bar had moved
to the top of his screen. That's not a bug; he just didn't know
how to move it where he wanted it. And note too that I would have
given him the same answer if he had asked in a Windows 98
newsgroup, because it worked the same way there.

Many other people describe problems that turn out to be hardware
problems, not Windows ones. Still others ask about application
software, sometimes not realizing that that's a different subject
from Windows. For example, the number of people who complain here
that they can't find Word in Windows XP continually amazes me.


> How many people do owe WinXP? A few hundred thousands???


Not even close to right. It's millions.


> Forget about that there are bunch of people blessed by XP,
> I can challange you to find one person that did not have one
> problem on WinXP. There would, if he did not turn on his PC.


One? I know lots. I'm one--I've had no problems with XP, and I
know *many* others who haven't either. Many have questions about
how to do something, but that's no surprise. Many people had
similar questions about how to do things in previous versions of
Windows too.


> There is no point in denying the problems. We are trying to
> solve the issues here (and the software engineers at Microsoft
> are not out fishing or are they?).


I don't deny that Windows XP is not perfect. No operating system
ever has been, and no operating system ever will be. But as I
said above, I've seen fewer problems with XP that in any previous
version of Windows. And those problems are generally much more
minor. For example, Windows XP, on both machines here, running
daily since XP was first released, has *never* crashed, frozen,
or blue-screened.

I *emphatically* deny that "WinXP is not meant for average
users." Windows XP is meant for everyone. And even more important
than who Microsoft meant it for, it works better for average
users than any other version ever did.

--
Ken Blake
Please reply to the newsgroup



> "Ken Blake" > wrote in
message >...
> > In , ultrum
wrote:
> >
> > > WinXP is not meant for average users.

> >
> > Of course it is. It's meant for everyone. And the vast
majority
> > of those avaerage users who have it installed use it without
a
> > problem.

[Anando [MS-MVP]]

Ultrum,
I have never had any problems with Windows XP though my hardware specs are
quite old. Most of the people have problems with some other programs which
do not function properly under Windows XP.

--
Anando
Microsoft-MVP for Windows XP
Know more about the MVP program- http://mvp.support.microsoft.com
Indian MVPs- http://www.microsoft.com/india/mvp/indiamvp.aspx


"ultrum" > wrote in message
om...
> There are 322,000 threads on general and 160,000 threads on
> help_and_support newsgroups. These are very small portion of
> discussions took place.
> I can predict a few million emails are exchanged regarding the WinXP
> problems.
> How many people do owe WinXP? A few hundred thousands???
>
> Forget about that there are bunch of people blessed by XP,
> I can challange you to find one person that did not have one
> problem on WinXP. There would, if he did not turn on his PC.
>
> There is no point in denying the problems. We are trying to
> solve the issues here (and the software engineers at Microsoft
> are not out fishing or are they?).
>
> "Ken Blake" > wrote in message
>...
> > In , ultrum wrote:
> >
> > > WinXP is not meant for average users.
> >
> >
> > Of course it is. It's meant for everyone. And the vast majority
> > of those avaerage users who have it installed use it without a
> > problem.

[John B]

Crusty (-: Old B@stard :-), after spending 3 minutes figuring out which end of
the pen to use, wrote:

> "ultrum" > wrote in message
> om...
>> How many people do owe WinXP? A few hundred thousands???
>
> You've got to be kidding, right!!!
>
> A million copies were sold within the first couple of months. It has been
> out for almost 2 years now!
>
> .

A million copies were sold to OEM's and retailers. You nor anyone else have
absolutely no idea how many are actually *owned* and running XPee right now. I
bet if M$ put out a statement that they milk flying cows every morning you'd
believe that too.

John
--
http://microscum.kurttrail.com/mmpafaq/mmpafaq.htm
http://kadaitcha.ath.cx/

[David A. Spicer]

Ditto here, not a single problem. I've also helped quite a few people with
the installation on their machines, some of which were quite old, and had
very few problems...and even those problems were correctable.

--
http://dhs.has.it


"Anando [MS-MVP]" > wrote in message
...
> Ultrum,
> I have never had any problems with Windows XP though my hardware specs are
> quite old. Most of the people have problems with some other programs which
> do not function properly under Windows XP.
>
> --
> Anando
> Microsoft-MVP for Windows XP
> Know more about the MVP program- http://mvp.support.microsoft.com
> Indian MVPs- http://www.microsoft.com/india/mvp/indiamvp.aspx
>
>
> "ultrum" > wrote in message
> om...
> > There are 322,000 threads on general and 160,000 threads on
> > help_and_support newsgroups. These are very small portion of
> > discussions took place.
> > I can predict a few million emails are exchanged regarding the WinXP
> > problems.
> > How many people do owe WinXP? A few hundred thousands???
> >
> > Forget about that there are bunch of people blessed by XP,
> > I can challange you to find one person that did not have one
> > problem on WinXP. There would, if he did not turn on his PC.
> >
> > There is no point in denying the problems. We are trying to
> > solve the issues here (and the software engineers at Microsoft
> > are not out fishing or are they?).
> >
> > "Ken Blake" > wrote in message
> >...
> > > In , ultrum wrote:
> > >
> > > > WinXP is not meant for average users.
> > >
> > >
> > > Of course it is. It's meant for everyone. And the vast majority
> > > of those avaerage users who have it installed use it without a
> > > problem.
>
>

[ultrum]

I seriously doubt there are 1 million XP users.
I feel bad for them.

"Crusty \(-: Old B@stard :-\)" > wrote in message >...
> "ultrum" > wrote in message
> om...
> > How many people do owe WinXP? A few hundred thousands???
>
> You've got to be kidding, right!!!
>
> A million copies were sold within the first couple of months. It has been
> out for almost 2 years now!
>
> .

[David A. Spicer]

I seriously doubt that there are less than one million XP users worldwide.
And why do you feel bad for them? XP is by far the best OS to date that
Microsoft has developed. Had XP not come out when it did I would have left
Windows behind by now.

--
http://dhs.has.it


"ultrum" > wrote in message
om...
> I seriously doubt there are 1 million XP users.
> I feel bad for them.
>
> "Crusty \(-: Old B@stard :-\)" > wrote
in message >...
> > "ultrum" > wrote in message
> > om...
> > > How many people do owe WinXP? A few hundred thousands???
> >
> > You've got to be kidding, right!!!
> >
> > A million copies were sold within the first couple of months. It has
been
> > out for almost 2 years now!
> >
> > .

[Ken Blake]

"ultrum" > wrote in message
om...

> I seriously doubt there are 1 million XP users.


There are *far* far more. Here's an old article, dated November
11, 2001: "Sales of Windows XP Exceed 7 Million Copies Within
Weeks of Worldwide Debut"

http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/Press/2001/Nov01/11-11XPComdexPR.asp

--
Ken Blake
Please reply to the newsgroup



> I feel bad for them.
>
> "Crusty \(-: Old B@stard :-\)"
> wrote in message
>...
> > "ultrum" > wrote in message
> > om...
> > > How many people do owe WinXP? A few hundred thousands???
> >
> > You've got to be kidding, right!!!
> >
> > A million copies were sold within the first couple of months.
It has been
> > out for almost 2 years now!
> >
> > .

[Jim Macklin]

I would expect that the world-wide base for XP (home and
pro) is in the tens of millions.

Since 95% of the computers sold in the past two years have
had XP installed as sold, and many older computers have been
upgraded....

Since MS requires activation for XP they sell, and OEMs may
activate in their systems, they can probably give a count
exactly.


"ultrum" > wrote in message
om...
| I seriously doubt there are 1 million XP users.
| I feel bad for them.
|
| "Crusty \(-: Old B@stard :-\)"
> wrote in message
>...
| > "ultrum" > wrote in message
| > om...
| > > How many people do owe WinXP? A few hundred
thousands???
| >
| > You've got to be kidding, right!!!
| >
| > A million copies were sold within the first couple of
months. It has been
| > out for almost 2 years now!
| >
| > .

[Chris Barnes]

Ken Blake > wrote:
> In , ultrum wrote:
>
>> WinXP is not meant for average users.
>
>
> Of course it is. It's meant for everyone. And the vast majority
> of those avaerage users who have it installed use it without a
> problem.

Of course, "average users" don't tweak things. It's the people that
know enough to get themselves into trouble that blow up their systems.
Forunatelly, "ultrum" was non-average enough to make a ghost image of a
working system first.

--

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
Chris Barnes AOL IM: CNBarnes
Yahoo IM: chrisnbarnes

[Ken Blake]

"Chris Barnes" > wrote in message
...

> Ken Blake > wrote:
> > In , ultrum
wrote:
> >
> >> WinXP is not meant for average users.
> >
> >
> > Of course it is. It's meant for everyone. And the vast
majority
> > of those avaerage users who have it installed use it without
a
> > problem.
>
> Of course, "average users" don't tweak things. It's the people
that
> know enough to get themselves into trouble that blow up their
systems.


There's a lot of truth in that. And it's irrespective of what
operating system is being used.

--
Ken Blake
Please reply to the newsgroup

[Donald Link]

Are we talking USA or world wide.




"Crusty (-: Old B@stard :-)" > wrote in
message ...
> "ultrum" > wrote in message
> om...
> > How many people do owe WinXP? A few hundred thousands???
>
> You've got to be kidding, right!!!
>
> A million copies were sold within the first couple of months. It has been
> out for almost 2 years now!
>
> .
>
>

[John B]

Ken Blake, after spending 3 minutes figuring out which end of the pen to use,
wrote:

> "ultrum" > wrote in message
> om...
>
>> I seriously doubt there are 1 million XP users.
>
>
> There are *far* far more. Here's an old article, dated November
> 11, 2001: "Sales of Windows XP Exceed 7 Million Copies Within
> Weeks of Worldwide Debut"
>
> http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/Press/2001/Nov01/11-11XPComdexPR.asp
>
> --
> Ken Blake

That holds absolutely no water. That's the number of copies sold to OEM's and
retailers. There's no way anyone can say there are *actually* that many people
*running* XPee. It's just ridiculous to think or believe M$ or anyone else
knows how many people own it, just as it's impossible to know how many 'tried'
it and returned it or just removed it off their system and sold it.

John
--
When the next door neighbor allows his pit bull to roam freely I bring the
grandkids in the house. I have no evidence that the dog will attack the
children. But, based on a pit bull's reputation, I don't trust the dog.
That's not paranoia. That's protecting what's important to you.
(Cooter, in an GRC NG, covering a thread about trusting M$)

[Michael Beardsley]

On Fri, 27 Jun 2003 13:26:57 -0700, Ken Blake wrote:

> "ultrum" > wrote in message
> om...
>
>> I seriously doubt there are 1 million XP users.
>
>
> There are *far* far more. Here's an old article, dated November
> 11, 2001: "Sales of Windows XP Exceed 7 Million Copies Within
> Weeks of Worldwide Debut"
>
> http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/Press/2001/Nov01/11-11XPComdexPR.asp

......say the cows as they're led to the slaughter.

Here's how it works. There are store shelves and there are OEMs. MS ships
products out to store shelves, and they get information from OEMs. What
gets reported is how many are out there. That doesn't translate to how many
are in use. What translates into an in-use number is sales from retailers,
including OEMs, how many don't get wiped off of the drives, how many get
installed multiple times, how many machines are carrying corporate
versions installed numerous times, how many pirated copies are used and a
whole host of other items that are usually figured in.

Unfortunately, OEM numbers aren't wholly reliable either. There are people
who bought machines and installed 2K Pro/Server. There are people who
bought machines and installed other things, like Linux, BSD and even older
versions of Windows.

The only thing the above link really reported was how many they wanted to
say were sold. It is not now, nor was it then, possible to know how many
are being used, including illegal copies, corporate installations, copies
lost or stolen or burned in building fires.

This isn't unique in this situation, though. They all pad their numbers to
impress stockholders and push prices of stocks up so they can sell their
own holdings off for larger amounts.

[Michael Beardsley]

On Fri, 27 Jun 2003 15:27:02 -0500, Jim Macklin wrote:

> I would expect that the world-wide base for XP (home and pro) is in the
> tens of millions.

Based on what facts? I have an opinion of my own. Mine says yours is
wrong. Prove that I'm not right.

> Since 95% of the computers sold in the past two years have had XP
> installed as sold, and many older computers have been upgraded....

Where did this 95% come from? Is that your expectation, too? Or do you
keep track of such things and have everybody forward their statistics to
you?

How many were built by the owners and something else put on them? How many
were built by small shops with either XP or something else entirely?

If you can't provide the numbers for the last two questions, how can you
hope to provide anything accurate on the 95% claim?

> Since MS requires activation for XP they sell, and OEMs may activate in
> their systems, they can probably give a count exactly.

How many have done something along the lines of the following?

http://microscum.kurttrail.com/mmpafaq/mmpafaq.htm

How many are using corporate copies, legally or illegally, that don't
require activation? How many are using pirated copies and still getting
away with it? How many are using pirated copies and not getting updates
nor registering?

That last part would seem to up the numbers you claim. Perhaps it does.
But it's also possible they're lower than you claim.

How many of the activations were reinstalls? How many were caused by
hardware upgrades that required reactivation? How many were reactivated
because a borked hard drive made people lose everything?

I doubt Microsoft wants to give the numbers based solely on activation. If
they do that the numbers won't look as good as they can get if they also
"estimate" corporate installations and others. If they make up those
numbers, what's to stop them from padding the others? It could even be
claimed to be an honest mistake because some people have had to activate
more than once or twice. They could be counted multiple times because of
that. Nobody will know, and if they ever find out it will be easy enough
to explain away.

In fact, they made impossible claims from the beginning, so any numbers
they provide are suspect for all time.

That has nothing to do with whether there are 1 million or 1 billion. The
simple fact is any number not provided by Microsoft is a guess, and any
number provided by Microsoft can't be trusted.

[ultrum]

We sidestepped the main issue here.

After putting lots of effort and time into this,
I decided WinXP is not worthed for the hassle.
Win98 is better suited for "my" daily use. I will
be using WinXP only for video editing, since I
need a big partition.

Thanks for all the feedback.

[Mike Mulligan]

You have to choose what you think is best for yourself. Do you understand
that Microsoft will not be supporting Windows 98 after next January? That
means no bug fixes, no security updates and no more articles in the
Knowledgw Base. Also, if your computer is newer, say 2001 or later, Windows
98 may not have drivers for your hardware, and there is no guarantee that
hardware vendors will support an operating system that is three generations
old.

Mike Mulligan

"ultrum" > wrote in message
om...
> We sidestepped the main issue here.
>
> After putting lots of effort and time into this,
> I decided WinXP is not worthed for the hassle.
> Win98 is better suited for "my" daily use. I will
> be using WinXP only for video editing, since I
> need a big partition.
>
> Thanks for all the feedback.

[John B]

Mike Mulligan, after spending 3 minutes figuring out which end of the pen to
use, wrote:

> You have to choose what you think is best for yourself. Do you understand
> that Microsoft will not be supporting Windows 98 after next January? That
> means no bug fixes, no security updates and no more articles in the
> Knowledgw Base.

<snip>

> Mike Mulligan

Wrong. Go to the link, almost to the bottom of the page.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/lifecycleconsumer.mspx

John
--
http://microscum.kurttrail.com/mmpafaq/mmpafaq.htm
http://kadaitcha.ath.cx/

[Anando [MS-MVP]]

Ultrum,
This article can be of help to you:

http://www.pcworld.com/howto/article/0,aid,111121,00.asp

--
Anando
Microsoft-MVP for Windows XP
Know more about the MVP program- http://mvp.support.microsoft.com
Indian MVPs- http://www.microsoft.com/india/mvp/indiamvp.aspx


"ultrum" > wrote in message
om...
> We sidestepped the main issue here.
>
> After putting lots of effort and time into this,
> I decided WinXP is not worthed for the hassle.
> Win98 is better suited for "my" daily use. I will
> be using WinXP only for video editing, since I
> need a big partition.
>
> Thanks for all the feedback.